The present invention pertains to a two piece container suitable for food items or the like which container comprises a cover that telescopically receives a tray having V-cut corners to provide inward flexibility for its sidewalls. The present invention also pertains to a blank for forming the tray piece in accordance with the invention.
A conventional type of container for pizza generallY has a relatively large, rectangular bottom wall portion and a top wall portion having the same dimensions as the bottom wall. Four sidewalls are hingeably connected to the bottom wall. One of the sidewalls also forms a hinge which connects the top wall to the bottom wall so that the top wall can be folded over onto the bottom to lock the container and enclose the pizza.
Pizza boxes of the conventional type often are stored as flat blanks or in squared-up condition. If flat blanks are stored, the blanks must be squared-up before their use and this increases the effort involved in the preparation of each food product for carry out. On the other hand, if the boxes are stored in squared-up form, they must be stacked on top of each other and therefore require additional space.
In order to overcome the above-mentioned problems relating to the storage of food containers, nestable containers have been provided. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,027,062 discloses a combination tray and cover, which according to the patentee, are constructed from blanks of identical size and contour. The side walls of each tray and cover piece include, located at the top edge thereof, a locking tab having a male portion delineated by a slit and a guide tab. To interlock the tray and cover, first the cover is positioned over the tray so that the locking tabs of the two pieces are placed in contact and then the cover is rotated with respect to the tray until the male portions of the locking tabs of each piece engage in the slits of the other piece. Such means for interlocking are somewhat complicated in requiring particular alignment of and rotation of the pieces.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,474,324 is a carton of the telescoping type wherein a cover piece fits over a tray piece. A common blank for forming each of the cover and tray pieces is provided with additional score lines so that the corners of the tray piece can be "pinched" together to permit the cover piece to slide over the sidewalls of the tray piece.
Other prior art has been directed to providing reliable, but somewhat less complicated locking means for two-piece containers. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,739,752 there is shown a 2-piece container including a cover and a deep, box-like "tray" which has tapering side walls. Handles are provided on the sides of the tray. Slots in the cover receive the handles to lock the container closed when the handles are folded over.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,470,538 shows a carton of the type having identical tray and cover members which hingeably attach to each other and are folded over to lock the container.
Still other containers and food cartons are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,195,798; 3,795,360; 3,926,362; 3,984,027, 4,431,128; 4,339,068; and 4,470,538.